


I've Got You, I Promise

by CastielFollowMe



Series: Single Dad Shiro Verse [38]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bikes, Bonding, Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Good Dad Shiro, Riding a Bike, first time riding a bike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 19:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14960931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: Keith learns how to ride a bike, with the help of his dad, who teaches him that he can do anything he sets his heart to.





	I've Got You, I Promise

**Author's Note:**

> So, how about season 6? Anyone else still traumatized? All I can imagine is how much angstier it would be with Single Dad Shiro and kid Keith. But hands down, it is my favorite season yet.
> 
> Here's some fluff to help everyone.
> 
> Prompt: "I just thought of something that could be adorable for your single dad shiro au. Shiro teaching Keith how to ride a bike without training wheels because that's a pretty big milestone (and difficult at first). I can't even imagine how either will act, but I'm picturing some hair pulling out of frustration or something lolol"

There were many big milestones in your child’s life. Shiro had known that some milestones were apparent to come, and others would be more of a surprise. Based on his own childhood he could figure out what a few of the milestones would be.

Such as first steps, first words, first dates.

Another milestone that Shiro figured could be a big one was Keith’s first bike ride on two wheels.

Shiro didn’t know if he was more excited or terrified of the prospect of Keith’s first bike ride without training wheels. On one hand, Keith could be terrific like he always was and be wonderful on his first ride, or he could fall and hurt himself. Then he would start crying and if Keith was crying then  _Shiro_  would start crying too.

However, Shiro had already pushed back teaching Keith to ride a two-wheeler until he was nearly seven. Keith was complaining constantly to Shiro about how he didn’t want his training wheels anymore. And how if Shiro didn’t take them off his bike, he was going to get Pidge and Hunk to take the training wheels off his bike without Shiro.

Finally, the day had come.

The weather was perfect. Shiro didn’t have any work to do. Red was content to watch from the front lawn. Keith’s grandparents had made time to watch and Keith had finished  _all_ of his homework early. Shiro had to do this, whether he wanted to or not.

“Daddy! Daddy, let’s go!” Keith jumped up and down excitedly. He wiggled in Shiro’s grip, while Shiro was trying to tighten the straps on Keith’s helmets, his knee pads, his elbow pads, the pad around his chest.

Unfortunately, Keith’s excitement was messing up Shiro’s straps.

“No more! Let’s go daddy! Pleeeease.” Keith groaned when his dad tightened the strap under his chin once more.

Eventually, Shiro sighed heavily and forced himself to stop with the safety straps. _Keith needed to_ _learn,_ _and he would never learn anything if you keep babying him. He’ll be fine._

“Okay, sweetheart. Let’s go,” Shiro said with a soft smile. Keith cheered excitedly and clapped his hands several times while Shiro got up from his position on his knees. He laughed at his son’s excitement, watching as Keith zipped out of the house to where his grandparents were. 

While Shiro had been helping Keith, Thace had been the one to remove the training wheels off Keith’s bike. Which meant that the next time Shiro would see Keith’s bike, it would be without training wheels.

Keith was squealing happily from where he was next to Thace. Thace was beaming at his grandson with a big grin and Shiro’s mother was snapping away with her camera. _Thank goodness for mothers. They’re always prepared._  

“Alright sweetie, what do we say to Grandpa?” Shiro said with a chuckle after he got a good look at Keith’s  _new_  bike.

“Thank you, thank you, grandpa, for my big boy bike!” Keith beamed at his grandpa before holding up his hand for a high-five. Thace laughed and high-fived the boy back.

“Of course, my dearest grandson. Only you deserve the utmost best of bikes.” Thace said with a mock bow. Shiro hid a laugh behind his hand when Keith’s happiness flipped to a look of disappointment. 

“No. Just, no.” Keith murmured before grabbing his bike and walking away from his gawking grandparents. Shiro couldn’t hold back his laugh this time, and he nearly doubled-over with shocked laughter. Thace and his mother both glared at Shiro with surprise.

“What can I say? He’s my son.” Shiro grinned cockily. He followed after his son before his parents could say anything else in retribution to their son. In the street, Keith was spinning around with his bike, in circles, with his feet still on the  _ground._  Shiro chuckled quietly as he observed Keith’s running around in excitement. If he could have the ability to freeze time forever, this would be one of the moments he would always come back to. If only to see that look of happiness on Keith’s face.

_I hope that looks stays there forever._

“Alright Keith, are you ready to learn how to ride your new bike?” Shiro asked and made his way over to his son. Keith immediately stopped running around in order to look at his dad. His little face was now scrunched up with such seriousness that Shiro almost started laughing once more.

“Yes, daddy.” Keith said softly.

“Okay, now it isn’t too bad. It’s gonna feel different from your bike before because you had training wheels helping you balance and stay upright.” Shiro explained quietly. Keith looked as if he was holding on to every word that Shiro was saying to him, and he nodded along. “However, without them now you have to try and balance yourself.”

Carefully, Shiro began to help Keith onto the seat of his bike as he held onto the bike. Keith wobbled a few times as he got onto the bike and gripped his handlebars tightly.

“See, it’s a little different than before,” Shiro said softly as Keith concentrated on keeping his feet on the pedals. Eventually, Keith looked up at Shiro, with his big blue eyes before nodding.

“Yeah, different.” Was all Keith said.

“It’ll be okay. I’m going to hold onto you for a while, until you get used to this, alright.” Shiro smiled down at Keith, who was beginning to look a bit nervous. Shiro almost wanted to tell Keith that he didn’t have to do this, but he knew that wouldn’t help Keith at all. It would only be more  _harm_ than good if Shiro didn’t encourage this.

“You’ll hold tight?” Keith whispered quietly as if he didn’t want anyone but Shiro to hear him.

“I won’t let go of you. I promise.” Shiro replied with a bright smile. He watched as Keith swallowed and then Keith took a deep breath. The nervous look on his face vanished and was soon replaced by a look of pure determination. If there was  _one_  thing that Shiro loved about Keith, it was his son’s determination. Keith could do anything if he set his mind to it.

“Okay,” Keith said, puffing his chest out. “I’m ready.”

With that, Shiro pushed Keith forward and the six-year-old took his first ride without training wheels. Keith pedaled slowly, barely having to walk fast as he pushed Keith around the street. Keith would wobble a couple of times when his balanced wavered before he was soon correcting himself. All the while, Shiro never once let go of the bike.

Thace and his wife cheered Keith on from Shiro’s lawn, cheering as if Keith was a player in the Superbowl. Shiro’s mother made sure to take hundreds of pictures the entire time that Shiro was pushing Keith (Shiro needed to remember to get the card from her so he could have  _every_  picture too).

After a couple of hours, Keith was feeling much more steady and stronger under Shiro’s hand. He was hardly wavering and Shiro was mostly pushing Keith around rather than keeping him upright.

“Wow Keith, you’re doing amazing! Just look at how good your balance is!” Shiro praised brightly, causing Keith to beam up at his dad. He turned around to look at Shiro with a smile and Shiro beamed. “Hi kiddo, but make sure to keep your eyes forward. You don’t ever want to look away, okay?”

“Oh right!” Keith stuck his little tongue out and immediately turned back around so he was facing forward. After a couple more figure eights in the road, Shiro determined that Keith was more than ready to try riding his bike.

On his own.

Without Shiro’s help.

“Alright sweetheart, are you ready to try this on your own?” Shiro asked softly. Keith looked up at Shiro over his shoulder, swallowing thickly before nodding.

“Yes, daddy. I wanna try!” He whispered. Shiro’s heart thudded in his chest, but he took a deep breath and gently pushed Keith ahead. However, this time Shiro let go of the seat of Keith’s bike when Keith got too far ahead. 

He was still only a few steps behind Keith, but now Keith was entirely on his own. _He needed to do this on_ _his_ _own_ _. No matter what happens._

Keith kept pedaling, as he began to wobble once more. His wobbling only increased and his pedaling fumbled some when his balance became off center.

“That’s it, Keith, keep it up. Remember to keep your balance and sit up! Keep pedaling.” Shiro encouraged from behind Keith when he noticed the boy wobbling dangerously. Keith tried his hardest to continue but his fumbling was becoming even worse and the bike was slowing down. It came close to a complete stop before the bike began to lean to one side, with Keith still sitting on the seat.

The bike began to tumble sideways, and Keith was falling with it, while Shiro felt his heart pound in his chest. With lightning fast reflexes, Shiro managed to snag Keith by his armpits and yank him off the bike before the bike fell on its side. Gently, Shiro set Keith down on the ground and began to check for injuries.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” Shiro asked, hands roaming all over to feel for any injuries. He was relieved to find that Keith wasn’t hurt at all  _(of course he wasn’t, you grabbed him before he could fall)._

However, Shiro could see Keith’s lower lip beginning to tremble with tears collecting in his eyes. His eyes were cast downwards, refusing to meet Shiro’s and Shiro sighed softly.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? What’s with these tears?” He asked as he gently rubbed his thumb under one of Keith’s eyes to wipe away tears. Keith’s lip trembled even more, and he bit back a sob.

“I messed up. I’m a big baby.” Keith finally croaked, wiping furiously at his eyes.

“Oh no,” Shiro’s whole body deflated. “Sweetheart, you are not a big baby.”

“Yes, I am. Can’t even ride a bike like everyone else.” Keith mumbled pitifully as more tears raced down his cheeks. Shiro swallowed and he continued to brush away Keith’s tears.

“Honey, everyone learns to ride a bike at different times. It doesn’t make you a baby, because you are trying to learn.” Shiro explained quietly. “And you did not mess up.”

“I did. I fell!” Keith cried sadly.

“Because you need to work on your balance! Keith, riding a bike it  _hard.”_   Shiro said with a gentle smile. “It takes some people many, many,  _many_  tries and times of falling before they learn to ride a bike. Your uncle Kuro fell off his bike  _fifty_  times before he could ride it, and you’ve seen him drive a motorcycle. Do you think he’s a big baby because it took him fifty tries?”

“No!” Keith cried. Shiro continued to smile as he brushed away Keith’s tears. “Uncle Kuro is so  _cool!”_

“Exactly. Keith, it’s very rare for someone to ride their bike perfectly on their first attempt. You are doing everything you’re supposed to do. All you have to keep doing is  _try._  You keep trying and soon enough you’ll be riding your bike to the moon.” Shiro said and he tweaked Keith’s button nose. Keith giggled wetly at the action and bounced in his shoes.

“Daddy, you can’t ride a bike to the moon!” He said shyly.

“Really? Don’t you remember ET?” Shiro mocked with a grin.

“They flew but not to the moon! That’s impossible!” Keith giggled again.

“But how? I love you to the moon and back!”

“I love you to the moon and back too but not on a bike!”

“Alright, alright.” Shiro laughed as Keith continued to giggle.  _That was a much better sound than crying._  “Maybe you can’t ride to the moon, but soon you can ride your bike to school and show off to Lance, Hunk and Pidge. You just have to keep practicing and trying.”

“Really?” Keith bit his lips, eyes casting downward. Though Shiro would have none of that and instead he gently gripped Keith’s chin and forced him to look upward.

"Of course, sweetheart," Shiro replied firmly. "And I'm gonna be right behind you, the whole time." He promised, and Keith's face morphed into a look of concentration. Eventually, he nodded and looked at Shiro once more.

"How many times are you gonna catch me before this is done?" Keith asked softly.

"As many times as it takes," Shiro promised.

After that, Keith's determination had multiplied, and the boy's determination was unwavering. While Keith fell many, many _, many_ more times, he never once gave up. He carried on each time with new strength and determination in his little body. Shiro's grin couldn't be wiped from his face even if he tried, though he still hung close to Keith in order to catch him nearly every time he fell.

It was all worth it in the end when just before dusk, Shiro gave Keith one last push onto his bike and hung back. Keith wobbled a handful of times in the beginning, but he corrected himself and he kept on pedaling. After a few seconds, Shiro realized that Keith was getting further and further away from him.

On his own.

Without Shiro.

Keith was riding his bike.

He was  _riding_  his bike.

"Oh my god! Keith, you're doing it baby! You're doing it! Oh my god, I'm so proud of you! You're incredible!" This time Shiro was jumping up and down excitedly. Keith continued to pedal but he too was starting to get excited as he realized his dad was not pushing him and he was  _riding a bike!_

"Daddy! Daddy! Look, I'm riding a bike! Daddy, I'm riding a bike!" Keith screamed excitedly. On the lawn, Thace and his wife were also cheering as loud as they could and jumping up and down for their grandson. This was a  _momentous_  occasion!

Shiro raced after his son, laughing all the way. His smile was bright and contagious and soon Keith was grinning even brighter than Shiro as he rode around Shiro. Shiro ran after his son, trying to keep up in order to see the bright smile on his son's face and to lock this memory into his brain forever.

_Keith, you're going to do amazing things one day._

Two weeks later, Lance, Hunk and Pidge were screeching with happiness when Keith rode up to school on his bike, all by himself. Well, Shiro was also on a bike a few feet back but that was beside the point. 

The point was that Keith could now ride his bike without any help.

And it was all thanks to his dad.


End file.
